A million bucks for Rochester Institute of Technology's Center for Urban Entrepreneurship. $1.5 million toward redeveloping Canandaigua Lake's northern shore. $2 million for Pittsford magnet maker Arnold Magnetic Technologies as it installs new equipment and sets up a manufacturing plant at Eastman Business Park.

With much of the pomp of an awards show, the state on Wednesday said that the Finger Lakes region would receive $59.8 million in tax dollars and tax breaks for various economic development projects. The occasion was the third annual announcement of awards being given through the state's regional economic development councils — 10 bodies covering different areas of the state, all vying for roughly $716 million in cash and tax breaks for pet economic development projects.

Last year, the Finger Lakes council made out well, garnering $96.2 million — more than any of the nine other councils. This year's award was considerably more modest, especially compared with the region's neighbors and the $60.8 million received by the Western New York council, the $66.9 million going to the Central New York council, or the $81.9 million for the Southern Tier council.

Among the 10 councils, only the New York City and Mid-Hudson councils received less money.

The results for the Finger Lakes region were "a mixed bag," said Mark Peterson, one of the Finger Lakes council members and CEO of non-profit economic development outfit Greater Rochester Enterprise. "Last year ... we were pretty ecstatic."

Requests for funds

None of the top priorities of the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council was funded fully, and some projects got no funding at all from the state.

Sponsored by

Requested

Awarded

New York Regional Economic Development Councils

This year still saw a number of key projects on the region's want list get state funding. The $59.8 million will be divvied up among close to seven dozen different projects: everything from $2 million for a biogas plant at the Genesee Valley Agri-Business Park in Batavia that turns agricultural waste into an energy source for ag-park tenants to $54,000 for contact lens maker CooperVision as it trains its Scottsville workers on lean manufacturing and other operational skills and $500,000 toward upgrades to the Rochester Public Market.

Some of the biggest awards include $1.93 million toward the I-Square retail/restaurant/professional space redevelopment in the heart of the town of Irondequoit and $750,000 toward renovating downtown Rochester's Sibley Building into mixed-use commercial space and housing.

The single largest amount was $3.5 million through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority for energy efficiency projects at businesses.

Much of the money comes from pots of economic-development tax incentives and grants offered through a dozen state agencies. It also includes an additional $150 million in capital aid and $70 million in tax credits. Kenneth Adams, president of Empire State Development, the state's economic development arm, said the allotment each year is based on how many qualified projects are submitted.

A few projects received funds, but the council received more money last year.
Matt Daneman

"The goal of the regional council initiative is not to give away money," Adams said. "The goal is to find the best projects identified in a highly competitive process."

The ceremony serves as a pep rally for the state's economy, with regional planners and elected officials coming to Albany to tout their region's growth and needs.

“I am happy that several critical projects in Monroe County received funding.”

Joseph D. Morelle, D-Irondequoit,

The economy has shown signs of improvement. The U.S. jobless rate was 7 percent in November, the lowest it's been in five years. But the state's unemployment rate is still higher than the national average, and some areas of New York continue to struggle with job losses — particularly in manufacturing, once the bedrock of the upstate economy.

"I remain proud of the work of the Finger Lakes Regional Council as we continue to transform our region into a knowledge-based innovation economy that is a national leader in several fields," Assembly Majority Leader Joseph D. Morelle, D-Irondequoit, said in a statement. "I am happy that several critical projects in Monroe County received funding. We will continue to demonstrate to the rest of the state that our region is a place where Albany can get an excellent return on its investment and again lead the way in job creation in New York state."

The $1 million awarded the RIT center was notably less than the $2.6 million requested toward the $6.7 million project, which includes renovating the old Rochester Savings Bank building on Franklin Street downtown for the center. The work is expected to be done in 2015.

In a statement, center director Delmoize A. Smith said, "The funding provided by the state to renovate CUE's new facility will clearly generate a return on investment — from the creation of new businesses to the growth of existing businesses. Both will create new jobs that pay in excess of livable wages, particularly in some of our more distressed communities, and that will boost our regional economy in an important way."

Sandy Parker, RBA head, is "pleased" with the $59.8 million awarded to the Finger Lakes Regional Economic Development Council.
Gannett - LoHud

While the regional council awards are billed as economic development spending, many have more to do with educational, environmental or housing needs, such as the $1.2 million toward extending Rochester's public promenade along the Genesee River, $800,000 for shoreline work and a path along the Seneca Lake shore in the city of Geneva; and $250,000 toward St. John Fisher College's planned Integrated and Health Sciences Building.

Monroe Community College's Accelerated Precision Tooling Certificate program will get $100,000 to cover the costs of an effort specifically aimed at residents of Rochester's largely impoverished El Camino neighborhood that includes help finding employment and accelerated coursework.

In a statement, MCC President Anne Kress said, "When you look at where the job openings are now and will be in the long run, advanced manufacturing is a high-demand, high-tech field that offers exciting and sustaining career pathways."

“There were some other projects we felt important that didn't get funding. That's a disappointment.”

Mark Peterson

However, Peterson added, "There were some other projects we felt important that didn't get funding" — chief among them $3 million that was requested for a new High Tech Rochester business accelerator. "That's a disappointment," Peterson said.

High Tech Rochester President James Senall said that lack of funding "doesn't change the project. We just have to find the funding elsewhere." HTR currently is doing private fund raising as well as applying to the federal government for money.

One big notable absence from the state award was Eastman Business Park. The Finger Lakes council has continually pointed to redevelopment of the park as the region's top economic development priority. And the council's 2013 request to the state included $3 million toward creation of the Eastman Business Park Fermentation Center that is to serve as a magnet for companies in the biofuel and biochemicals industries.

Other high-priority projects that did not make the cut included $1.5 million sought by Nazareth College for its Wellness Rehabilitation Institute, more than $900,000 for a Foodlink commercial kitchen and food processing operation, and nearly $1 million for a photonics industry lab to be shared by area optics companies.

Through the regional council approach started three years ago by the Cuomo administration, the state has announced grants and other incentives totaling more than $2.2 billion.

The councils "have been super successful over the last three years," Lt. Gov. Robert Duffy said Wednesday during the awards ceremony. "It was a vision to be a bottom-up approach. The decisions of the past were made here in Albany. Now ... those decisions really come from the ground up."

Economic development council awards

Since 2011, New York state has awarded $2.24 billion in grants and tax credits to 10 regional economic development councils. Here is how the money was distributed.

Sponsored by

2011

2012

2013

Millions

Region

New York Governor's Office

Len LaCara, Democrat and Chronicle

HOW THEY FARED

The state doled out $716 million Wednesday for projects around the state through its 10 regional councils. Regions designated by the state as "top performers" are marked in bold.